The Ascent of Money cover art

The Ascent of Money

A Financial History of the World

 Preview
LIMITED TIME OFFER

3 months free
Try for £0.00
£8.99/mo thereafter. Renews automatically. Terms apply. Offer ends 31 July 2025 at 23:59 GMT.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for £8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly.

The Ascent of Money

By: Niall Ferguson
Narrated by: Gareth Armstrong
Try for £0.00

£8.99/mo after 3 months. Offer ends 31 July 2025 23:59 GMT. Cancel monthly.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

The abridged, downloadable audiobook edition of Niall Ferguson's epic history, The Ascent of Money.

Behind each great historical phenomenon there lies a financial secret - Niall Ferguson uncovers the hidden stories behind history.

Bread, cash, dosh, dough, loot. Call it what you like, it matters now more than ever. In The Ascent of Money, Niall Ferguson shows that finance is the foundation of all human progress and the lifeblood of history. From the cash injection that funded the Italian Renaissance to the stock market bubble that sparked the French Revolution, from the bonds that fuelled Britain's war effort to the Wall Street Crash and today's meltdown, this is the story of boom and bust as it's never been told before. Whether you're scraping by or rolling in it, there's no better time to understand the ascent of money.

©2010 Niall Ferguson (P)2017 Penguin Audio Economic History Economics World Money Banking Socialism Capitalism Thought-Provoking Taxation War Imperialism Wall Street Global Financial Crisis US Economy Stock Africa

Listeners also enjoyed...

 One Up On Wall Street cover art
Kissinger cover art
Easy Money cover art
The Financial Crisis cover art
The Coming Bond Market Collapse cover art
Broken Money cover art
The Psychology of Money cover art
Dumb Money cover art
The Gone Fishin' Portfolio cover art
Capital in the Twenty-First Century cover art
Money Mania cover art
The Complete TurtleTrader cover art
Fooled by Randomness cover art
Debt - Updated and Expanded cover art
The History of Money cover art
Crisis Economics cover art
All stars
Most relevant  
Absolutely fascinating book albeit a tad dry at times.. I hear there is an accompanying TV series which I imagine is splendid.

The history of money

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Brilliantly narrated and full of history and interesting information and events throughout the financial history of the world.

Thank you.

Knowledge is power

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
One of my favourite ever books, downloaded the audio version just to soak up some more of the richness.

Clarity and depth

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I think I'll have to listen to the book again, it is not a gripping listen so my attention drifted from the narration. Still it's a good overview of history of money.

Decent short overview of history of money

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Like all abridged books, it seems too brief, missing the extra detail. Shame the unabridged isn’t available.

Good but too short

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Too many repetitions for same thing, story went from one direction to other quickly. Otherwise some good points were made throughout the book.

Okayish book, far too repetitive.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I loved every second of this book. Very thorough and witty. The narrator did a splendid job with reading the book. If you've ever wondered where it (money, the financial system as we know it) all started from, this is a great place to start. Such a great read (or rather listen).

The author deserves his coins, the narrator too!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This is a book about finance, and big finance at that. Largely ignored the role of money in changing and shaping human behaviour for the great majority. Or it’s ever increasing role in guiding real tangible investment. Instead it is a singular take on the development of intangible financial markets and their treatment of risk.

I read this book as a trained economist - as a layman it would be near impossible to follow properly. While the odd concept or term is explained in depth, the author often resorts to peppering his account with terminology that requires a depth of understanding and context not presented.

The ground covered is interesting and at times lively, but is extremely partial and in many areas to opinionated to properly be called a “history”. Buyer beware.

Not a book about money

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Didn't realise it was abridged when I bought the audio book. Then when listening it felt like whole sections were being skipped. I then realised it was abridged and not really worth listening to in this form.

Abridged - misses a lot

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.